NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC'S "EXPLORER: THE DEEPEST CAVE" FOLLOWS EXTREME CAVE EXPLORER BILL STONE AS HE ATTEMPTS TO VENTURE DEEPER UNDER THE EARTH THAN ANYONE HAS EVER GONE BEFORE

The One-Hour Special Is the Newest Installment of National Geographic's Long-Running EXPLORER Series

EXPLORER: THE DEEPEST CAVE Premieres May 30 at 10/9c on National Geographic and Will Stream This Summer on Disney+

(Washington, D.C. - Feb. 7, 2022) - Continuing National Geographic's legacy of pushing beyond known frontiers to deliver bold, powerful stories, Nat Geo announced the newest chapter of its EXPLORER series. EXPLORER: THE DEEPEST CAVE will premiere May 30 at 10/9c and stream this summer exclusively on Disney+. The one-hour special follows renowned cave explorer Bill Stone as he and his team push the boundaries of what has ever been done before as they attempt one of the greatest achievements of modern exploration - to set a new world record by venturing into the bottom of what is thought to be the deepest cave in the world.

Deep in the uncharted depths of Cheve Cave in Mexico, the expedition team must navigate through over 12 miles of unexplored tight, twisting passages, sometimes in complete darkness, where one mistake can be deadly. During the dangerous and highly technical adventure, not only is Bill and the team trying to break the world record for venturing deeper than any other person on Earth, but the expedition's other goal is to map everything the team sees to create both traditional 2D maps as well as CGI 3D models relative to the surface topography so others can study the cave and discover what its future holds.

For the three-month underground journey in the longest active subterranean push duration ever, Bill enlisted a team of 69 elite cavers from 9 different countries, including expert cavers Sean Lewis, Corey Hackley, Sonia Dudziak, Victor Bravo and Gilly Elor from countries around the world, including Mexico, Poland, Slovenia, Canada, Sweden and Russia. The expedition has been compared to climbing Mount Everest - but in reverse - and the pressure to conquer the cave will push all of them to the absolute limits of survival and sanity.

EXPLORER: THE DEEPEST CAVE is part of National Geographic's long-running, iconic EXPLORER series, which continues to search for answers to some of the greatest mysteries of history, science and adventure around the world. The first part of the anthology series, EXPLORER: THE LAST TEPUI, streaming on Earth Day, April 22, only on Disney+, follows elite climber Alex Honnold (FREE SOLO) and a world-class climbing team led by National Geographic Explorer and climber Mark Synnott on a grueling mission deep in the Amazon jungle to help legendary biologist and National Geographic Explorer Bruce Means to the top of a massive "island in the sky" known as a tepui to search for undiscovered animal species.

EXPLORER: THE DEEPEST CAVE is produced by ABC News Studios for National Geographic. Jeanmarie Condon is senior executive producer, and Drew Pulley executive produces. The special is directed by Pablo Durana. For National Geographic, Bengt Anderson is executive producer.

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National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and the National Geographic Society, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic's media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children's media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 133 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers ... and reaching millions of people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information, visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and  Pinterest.